President Trump and his allies are planning a multi-pronged public relations onslaught in response to the release of a redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s long-awaited report Thursday.
Mueller concluded that Trump did not collude with Russia in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election but did not say whether there was obstruction of justice. While Trump’s opponents have insisted that Mueller’s report did not exonerate the president, his supporters are ready to come to his defense.
“You can bet that America First is going to be pushing its surrogates out to television, radio, and print to reaffirm to the American public that President Trump was fully exonerated by the Mueller report,” said Alex Titus, a spokesman for the pro-Trump nonprofit organization America First Policies.
Trump-backing Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., also plans to head onto TV “to discuss the Mueller Report once it is released,” according to his chief of staff.
[Related: Barr’s reputation in peril with Mueller report rollout]
The Trump campaign said the president will be vindicated with the release of the report. Campaign Communications Director Tim Murtaugh called for an investigation into the origins of the Mueller investigation.
“The tables should turn now, as it is time to investigate the liars who instigated the sham investigation in the first place,” Murtaugh said.
Reactions from Trump’s allies will supplement the White House’s own response to the report, which looks to be aggressive. Attorney General William Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will hold a press conference Thursday at 9:30 a.m. EST, and Trump announced Wednesday that he might conduct his own press conference following Barr’s appearance.
“You’ll see a lot of very strong things come out tomorrow,” the president said, including, no doubt, a string of hard-edged tweets.
[Also read: Federal judge criticizes Barr over transparency concerns for the Mueller report]
Trump lawyers Jay Sekulow and Rudy Giuliani are also likely to appear on TV, according to Sekulow.
The full Mueller report is expected to be roughly 400 pages, which will pose a challenge to those hoping to present a rapid response. Sekulow is planning to assign several staffers each a section of the report to quickly read and said his team would provide analysis throughout the day.
“From a communications perspective, it doesn’t get any more difficult than this — a report released without the ability to plan, with unforeseen conclusions,” said Republican media strategist and former Trump campaign adviser Michael Caputo. “This is very complex, and there are very few people who are equipped to handle it.”
Caputo, who was himself interviewed by the special counsel, said he was excited to see how the White House responds to the report.
“This should be the most well-orchestrated, strongly messaged, hardest communications effort the president has ever undertaken,” he said. “I’m excited to find out what they’re doing and I’m hoping that it’s massive. This has got to be as big as it gets. I believe it’s going to present the president with an opportunity he may never get again.”
